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Author: Courtney

Jon Sandler and Luke Moellman have discussed combining their passions of music and creating a song together before, but it was not until the two ran into each other on a busy Brooklyn street one afternoon that Great Good Fine OK was created.

Luke was busy creating music with other musicians and Jon was writing and performing music for himself at the time. According to Sandler, the two put their talents together immediately after their run-in and their first hit titled “You’re the One For Me” was created that night. After liking what they heard, they realized there was no turning back.

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Great Good Fine Ok’s sound is something that fits the unofficial requirements of today’s indie-pop bands, a strong synth influence with an 80’s vibe. According to Sandler, they both “have a lot of early R&B in their blood, while Luke has a stronger jazz background making his music more complex and interesting.” A mix between a multi-instrumentalist and Jon’s funky, smooth falsetto vocals is what sets them apart from other current indie bands by giving the listener something unlike any song they heard on their local radio station this week.

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Another thing that sets Great Good Fine OK apart from other modern bands is the process they go through when producing a new tune. Sandler explains that Luke produces a track on his own and then sends this to Sandler to write the lyrics and melody on top, and then they get together to give input on both parts. Sandler says, “Working separately on the things we’re both best at and the things that we both love to do works the best for us.” The duo has shown that they put nothing but genuine passion and effort into their work.

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The eccentric vibe continues in Great Good Fine Ok’s live performance. They strive to be a live performing band that can put on a good show; and according to fans, they have succeeded in this.

Appearance alone lets the audience know that they are in for a treat. The stage outfits are the epitome of a successful day at the thrift shop. Sandler’s shimmering, gold kimono paired on top of silky Aztec print pants pair perfectly with Moellman’s famous “maps on maps” outfit: an all-over map printed shirt layered under a vintage, all-over printed map jacket. The second these two walk on stage, the audience knows that they have something to look forward to.

Jon Sandler performing with Great Good Fine OKLuke Moellman performing in his “maps on maps” outfit

A first time Great Good Fine OK concertgoer is quickly drawn in by the seemingly flawless falsetto tunes filling the room. The music lines up exactly the way it was meant to be and the synths give the listener a smooth 80’s vibe that they cannot turn away from. Sam Yager of Chicago, Illinois says, “The first time I saw Great Good Fine OK, they were opening for another band and I hadn’t heard of them before; by the second song of their set, I was in love with them.” Thus showing just how important the band’s live performance is.

The future for Great Good Fine OK is looking to be just as bright as the duo’s stage outfits. New music for the band is being written every day, according to Sandler. As far as a new album being released goes, they are just enjoying making music that they are proud of and constantly releasing new music – whether that be through more singles, another EP, or eventually an album.

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While Great Good Fine OK may not yet be a household name, there is certainly a demand for new music from their not-unexpectedly dedicated fan base. Em Berger of Minneapolis, Minnesota refers to the band as “some of the most talented and humble people she has ever met” saying, “they go out of their way to make their fans happy whether that be posing for a ton of photos, hanging out before and after the shows, or constantly going on tour.” She then ends with a statement that the two have lived up to in so many ways, “they are truly one in a million!”

Jon Sandler and Luke Moellman have had discussions of combining their passions of music and creating a song together before, but it was not until the two ran into each other on a busy Brooklyn street one afternoon that Great Good Fine Ok was created. Luke was busy creating music with other musicians and Jon was writing and performing music for himself at the time, but after the two put their talents together, their first hit, titled “You’re the One For Me” was created and there was no turing away.

New smartphone technology is here and could mean better health and longer lives for us all.

Apple has introduced its new free software app called ResearchKit. This app allows researchers to build their own apps within that can collect data for them. The individual users, then allow the health data they construct to be sent directly to these researchers.

According to David Pogue for Scientific American Magazine, The pro to this system is that users are providing updates through the functions on their phones hundreds or even thousands of times a day rather than once every few months.

Some of the apps that have been made possible by ResearchKit include MyHeart for cardiac health, Asthma Health, GlucoSuccess for diabetes, mPower for Parkinson’s disease, and Share the journey for breast cancer.

Michael McConnel from the Stanford University School of Medicine told Pogue, “ResearchKit solves a number of the current challenges to clinical research” such as recruiting more users, lower costs, and a quicker method to data sharing.

The apps resulting from ResearchKit are bringing in necessary data in a way that users are more able to stick with.

Minnesota native, Garrison Keillor, spoke last night at the National Press Club in Minnesota and let his feelings shine through as he gave his take on “15 things that need to happen tomorrow.”

Before getting to the points, Keillor pointed his inspiration for the current speech. In his life, he has only gotten generic compliments. Thinking about this made him feel that his forty years in radio were nothing but a “comforting baritone presence” and that tonight he would give a speech that is more specific.

Starting off with a common theme in the night; humor, Keillor started the list with things like changing the names on street signs, laying off the “now-required” flag pins, and putting a cease and desist order on unnecessary airport announcements.

Moving into a more serious topic, Keillor suggested a rearrangement of seating in the house and senate into a “checkerboard fashion” in order to make more progress.

He then transitioned into the pressing topic of increasing the minimum wage. The room got quiet as Keillor explained that it makes no sense that people who work hard cannot support themselves. “If you work hard . . . you’re gonna be ok. But you just can’t do that with the minimum wage. L.A. did something about it last week and the rest of us need to do something about it tomorrow.”

Positive reactions were received from the audience as Keillor went into currently discussed topics such as gay rights, diversity, and woman’s rights. Keillor believes that the government needs to come along with the acceptance of different sexualities. Branching off from this, Keillor said that the United States needs to give the word diversity a rest. “We are diverse . . . minorities are not trophies, they are people.”

Lastly, Keillor recognized that there are some changes that cannot be made, but putting the face of a woman on the twenty-dollar bill is not one of them. His suggestion being Emily Dickenson.

From the smallest to the biggest issues that were discussed in Keillor’s 15 changes, the audience reacted in compliance and stayed engaged well through Keillor’s consistent use of humor and sarcasm.

After taking a few questions regarding mostly things that did not have to do with his speech, Keillor closed the night by singing “Let Freedom Ring.”

People all over the United States are celebrating McDonald’s newest promotion of “all day breakfast” and the Morningside location is showing better than expected results.

The change officially went in to place on October 6th across the country, but the Morningside location started one-week prior, and preparations for the change have been going on for months.

According to a shift manager at the Morningside branch of McDonald’s, Ivan Yager, this location went through with a trial period last summer. During the trial, breakfast time was extended from 10:30am to 11:00am. The results showed well for the company and is said to have something to do with the early change in Sioux City.

Yager explained that nationwide, the corporation expected a trend in sales the first few months after the change and “the Morningside location is doing much better than was even expected.” The location being so close to Morningside College is thought to have a big affect on this trend. Yager says he has noticed that now students are coming in for breakfast after sleeping in or finishing their morning classes.

Morningside student, Brett Kies, agrees with Yager’s thought on college students taking advantage of all day breakfast. Kies says he appreciates it the most when he runs into late night hunger and referred to the change as, “the best idea McDonald’s has ever had.”

Callan Smith, of Sioux City, is enthusiastic about the change. He says that all day breakfast is something he has seen coming for a while now. He noticed that Taco Bell has been promoting their all day breakfast for a while, possibly pushing McDonald’s to make their move.

Enthusiastically, Smith explained that he has so far loved having the ability to wake up at any time or stop in to the Morningside McDonald’s on his lunch break and freely order an Egg McMuffin. Smith’s reasoning for feeling so strongly about the topic is, “people fought for all day breakfast, we should use it.”

Smith’s only complaint is that the wait time for every breakfast order after the usual breakfast hours is three to four minutes. This wait is due to all breakfast items having to be made to order and Yager explained the way that this has changed the kitchen life in the store.

Everything had to be changed because the grills are only set up to cook meat. A separate grill was purchased to cook the eggs on. Since things have to be done separately, and the change has brought in a rush, Yager explained that all employees have had to jump in to help in order to get everything done.

While there has been a positive reaction to the all day change, there are people who still are not happy. Rhonda Blundell, also of Sioux City, says that she has never enjoyed McDonald’s breakfast and just does not understand the vivid excitement over the change. She went even further to explain that she wishes the opposite had been executed: making hamburgers and fries also available all day. She says that she would much rather been given the opportunity to have a McChicken for breakfast than a McMuffin for lunch.

Overall, not everyone can be happy. Due to the limited kitchen space, only certain breakfast items made it to the all day breakfast menu and Monte Hansen, of Sioux City, is not pleased with the choices. Upon being denied scrambled eggs at two in the afternoon, he exclaimed, “you call this breakfast? Take the sign down.”

There are definitely opinions from every end of the spectrum to be had on this unexpected topic. Overall, McDonald’s is doing their best to make customers happy and the change is showing well. The change is something that looks like is here to stay thanks to the positive trend in sales.

This week I read an article from the Huffington Post titled, “The Morality of a $15 Minimum.”

The lead in this article starts with a question and the following sentence talks about conservatives shooting down the idea of a higher minimum wage. This is somewhat eye catching, but it does not to a great job of giving the reader a completely accurate idea of what is to follow in the article.

The article is about the minimum wage being raised, but all of the positives about it.

I thought that this was an interesting article to read overall, and it gave numbers, statistics, and examples to allow the reader to connect with the topic.

The only issue with the facts it gave are that the author is very clearly for raising the minimum wage and turned the article more or less into a persuasive essay. The author, Robert Reich, is the author of the book, “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few.” So his opinion on this is public, however, it is never mentioned in the body of the article who the author is, only under his name at the beginning.

People all over the United States are celebrating McDonald’s newest promotion of “all day breakfast” and the Morningside location is showing better than expected results.

The change officially went in to place on October 6th across the country, but the Morningside location started one-week prior, and preparations for the change have been going on for months. According to a shift manager at the Morningside branch of McDonald’s, Ivan, this location went through with a trial period last summer. During the trial, breakfast time was extended from 10:30am to 11:00am. The results showed well for the company and is said to have something to do with the early change in Sioux City.

Ivan explained that nationwide, the corporation expected a trend in sales the first few months after the change and “the Morningside location is doing much better than was even expected.” The location being so close to Morningside College is thought to have a big affect on this trend. Ivan says he has noticed that now students are coming in for breakfast after sleeping in or finishing their morning classes.

Callan Smith, of Sioux City, is very enthusiastic about the change. He says that all day breakfast is something he has seen coming for a while now. He noticed that Taco Bell has been promoting their all day breakfast for a while, possibly pushing McDonald’s to make their move. Enthusiastically, he explained that he has so far loved having the ability to wake up at any time or stop in to the Morningside McDonald’s on his lunch break and freely order an Egg McMuffin. Smith’s reasoning for feeling so strongly about the topic is, “people fought for it, we should use it.”

Smith’s only complaint is that the wait time for every breakfast order after the usual breakfast hours is three to four minutes. This wait is due to all breakfast items having to be made to order and Ivan explained the way that this has changed the kitchen life in the store. Everything had to be changed because the grills are only set up to cook meat. A separate grill was purchased to cook the eggs on. Since things have to be done separately, and the change has brought in a rush, Ivan explained that all employees have had to jump in to help in order to get everything done.

While there has shown to be a positive reaction to the all day change, there are people who still are not happy. Rhonda, also of Sioux City, says that she has never enjoyed McDonald’s breakfast and just does not understand the vivid excitement over the change. She went even further to explain that she wishes the opposite had been executed: making hamburgers and fries also available all day. She says that she would much rather been given the opportunity to have a McChicken for breakfast than a McMuffin for lunch.

Overall, not everyone can be happy. Due to the limited kitchen space, only certain breakfast items made it to the all day breakfast menu and Monte Hansen, of Sioux City, is not pleased with the choices. Upon being denied scrambled eggs at two in the afternoon, he exclaimed, “you call this breakfast? Take the sign down.”

There are definitely opinions from every end of the spectrum to be had on this unexpected topic. Overall, McDonald’s is doing their best to make customers happy and the change is showing well. The change is something that looks like is here to stay thanks to the positive trend in sales.

Stuart Scott preaches hope and inspires the ability to fight on for what is important in life when it comes to hardships.

At this year’s ESPY’s, sportscaster Stuart Scott accepted the Jimmy V Award and gave a very moving speech about his journey.

When learning he would be presented this award, Scott thought back to other past recipients. To those he has even presented the award to. He stated that intellectually, he got it, but at the gut level he did not think he belonged with these people.

The remainder of his speech proved that he did.

He explained that life’s journey is about the people that touch us. He encouraged everyone to always keep fighting. “I’m not losing. I’m still here. I’m fighting.” He stated that fighting is the most important part and when you are too tired to fight, lay down and have someone else fight for you.

Towards the end of his speech, he stated, “to be honored with this award, I have a responsibility to not give up.” He then made it personal by saying he can not give up because he can not leave his daughters. The emotional appeal was strong and the closing hug between Scott and his youngest daughter enlightened the importance of having support and the will to keep fighting.

The American drinking age of 21 sets us apart from all other developed countries. Recently, many people have accused this law of being outdated and causing more harm than good.

Results from a recent National survey found that 66% of students have used alcohol by the 12th grade. These numbers show that the act of underage drinking is not uncommon and the effort to keep those under the age of 21 from drinking has had a lack of success. In the United States, a citizen over the age of 18 is considered an adult and obtains the right to vote or serve in the army, but is denied a glass of wine with their dinner.

Alexis Aguirre, a writer for The University Star at Texas State University, believes that making drinking a forbidden act only drives young people to want to drink more. Aguirre states, “Legal drinking age does not eliminate consumption among young people. Instead, it only drives underage drinking underground, creating a dangerous culture of irresponsible and extreme drinking.”

Aguirre makes it clear that by the time a person is considered an adult, they are more than capable of making their on decision on whether or not they consume alcohol.

A 21 and older drinking rule is thought to feed into the rebellious nature of teenagers.

The law passed in 1984 has shown to cause cases similar to those during the prohibition – those under the legal age set out to drink as much as they can and in the smallest amount of time possible because they do not know when they will be stopped.

Writer for Time Magazine, Camille Paglia, explains that young drinkers – college students in particular – turn to binge drinking at wild parties, giving them less control of their surroundings. Paglia states, “What this cruel 1984 law did is deprive young people of safe spaces where they could happily drink cheap beer, socialize, chat and flirt in a free but controlled public environment.”

One thing that all activists in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 have in common is that it gives students a chance to learn to drink responsibly.

In an article posted by The New York Times, Gabrielle Glaser, the author of “Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink — and How They Can Regain Control,” says that “Teaching people to drink responsibly before they turn 21 would enormously enhance public health.” Glaser believes that allowing students between the ages of 18 and 20 to drink legally would drive them away from binge drinking at random parties and give them the opportunity of having a safe, controlled environment.

This week, I read an article from The Huffington Post titled, “Why Cornell’s President Wants Students To Put Down Their Phones And Get Some Sleep.”

The headline originally caught my eye because, as a college student, I wanted to learn more about the President’s idea on the correlation between phones and the amount of sleep a student gets. It makes sense that getting enough sleep is important, but it was a topic I could relate to.

The lead says, “If Cornell University President Elizabeth Garrett hears someone say they get only three or four hours of sleep a night, she’s not impressed.” This was not a good summarization of what the article is about.

The first section talks about students at universities thinking of the person who gets the littlest amount of sleep as the “winner.” It talks a lot about different sayings regarding this on campuses and does not bring up anything about Cornell or its President. It then starts off on a new topic about sleep patterns being related to mental health.

Finally, in the last few paragraphs, they talk again about why Garrettt is making it her goal to combat these issues. And in only one paragraph is it brought up that students should “unplug” from their phones and contact face-to-face instead.

Overall, I think that this was an interesting article and topic. Especially since it is something I can relate to in some ways. I think that the order of the information given should have been moved around to make the information that was said to be given in the headline and lead pop out better, instead of leaving it to the very end.